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Aurora weighs expanding solar garden for consumers with Xcel program

By MeganMitchellYourHub Reporter

Posted:
06/17/2014 12:38:55 PM MDT

Updated:
06/18/2014 01:29:14 PM MDT

Solar panels (Provided by Clean Energy Collective)

AURORA — Aurora may double the size of a solar garden that provides energy bill rebates to participating residents after a private developer approached the city to participate in one of Xcel Energy's 10 annual Solar Rewards Community projects.

The city established its first, 2,000-panel garden last summer through the Clean Energy Collective, a Carbondale-based company that installs community-owned solar arrays, or fields of solar panels.

The company leases the land from Aurora and installs the solar panels. The energy collected goes into Xcel's grid. Customers pay the company for panels and get a credit on their Xcel Energy bills.

The mid-sized, 500-kilowatt program currently takes up about 3.5 acres on the northeast corner of Buckley Road and the Tower Road trail. If the second project is approved by city council on June 23, the garden will expand to 7 acres and provide rebates on the energy bills of approximately 150 new homes.

"The average saving depends on the use of individual customers," said Karen Hancock, Aurora city planner. "If you have a great big house, you can probably save a lot of money; if you don't use that much energy to begin with, it will make a proportional dent."

Xcel offers 10 solar rewards programs in the state every year. Since 2006, the Solar Rewards program has paid more than $297 million in incentives to Colorado customers and helped to install more than 19,800 photovoltaic systems — solar panels.

Of the available energy from the existing Aurora/Arapahoe Community Solar Array, 280 kilowatts have been purchased by a mix of businesses and homeowners in Aurora and Arapahoe County, said Jim Hartman, vice president of strategic development of the Clean Energy Collective. On average, a subscriber will use about 5 kilowatts, which are roughly 15 to 20 panels.

"We have every expectation that the second garden will be as successful if not more successful that the first one," Hartman said. "The nice thing about this project is that the city knows how we work. The original site has proven itself, so we're just replicating a good first project."

The Clean Energy Collective operates about 20 solar gardens in Colorado now and about 40 nationwide. Gardens open on land that is virtually unusable already, like next to landfills or airport runways. In the case of Aurora, the garden is on land with contaminated groundwater from the Buckley Air Force Base.

To use city land, the Clean Energy Collective will pay Aurora $1,000 per year, per acre. The city would earn about $7,000 a year if the second garden is installed this summer.

"It's not economics that drives us," Hancock said. "We're glad to be able to host it so that our residents can have access to this type of opportunity."

Another stipulation of the program is that a developer needs to donate 5 percent of generated energy from the solar garden to low-income residents in the county served by panels. From the Aurora/Arapahoe Community Solar Array, the Clean Energy Collective has donated about 30 kilowatts to 13 users.

"The city of Aurora is a forward-thinking, green-orientated, solar-friendly community," Hartman said. "We look forward to a continued partnership that benefits many residents in the county."

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